ARTICLES ABOUT FINANCIAL HUB BY DATE - PAGE 3

KOLKATA: State Bank of India has acquired 10 acre at Rajarhat, the up and coming satellite township near Kolkata, to build a training institute. It has paid Rs 58 crore to the West Bengal government for the plot. SBI said the training institute will come up near the proposed International Financial Hub at Rajarhat. Its chief general manager Suriender Kumar said the proposed institution will not only give training to its employees in the eastern zone, it will attract participants from banks in South East Asian countries and other neighbouring countries.

In 2007, the then finance minister P Chidambaram in his Budget speech said that the country's financial capital has the potential to be a global financial centre. As is the governmental practice, he also set up a committee headed by World Bank economist Percy S Mistry. Budget at ET: Budget 2012 | Union Budget | Live Union Budget Blog | Railway Budget | Budget News | Economic Survey of India Within just two months, in April 2007, the committee made a host of recommendations with alacrity to enable Mumbai join the league of London and New York, while Dubai was slowly becoming Asia's financial capital with the advantage of surplus oil money from other Gulf states pouring in. It proposed migration to full capital account convertibility, preparation of an exit strategy by the government for withdrawing from ownership of financial firms, gradual reduction of equity stake in public sector banks, establishment of a robust derivatives market along with a currency spot market.

NEW YORK: Large scale protests against corporate America spread across the country today with demonstrations being held outside federal banks and financial districts from Los Angeles to Boston. The Occupy Wall Street protests entered their third week here with protesters dressed up as "corporate zombies" marching through Wall Street, the city's financial hub. People used social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to spread their message and garner support for their cause.

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven Mumbai terror attack suspects today gave prosecutors time till June 11 to substantiate their contention that India would allow a Pakistani Judicial Commission to interview key witnesses and officials. The special public prosecutor told Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed of the Rawalpindi-based court that the Indian government had said it will cooperate with the Pakistani Judicial Commission and allow it to question witnesses and officials.

KOLKATA: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday expressed concern over the rising current account and trade deficits and suggested a wider export market besides Europe and North America to correct the imbalances. "I have apprehensions because the current account deficit has increased-...Trade imbalances have increased because exports have not grown in absolute terms compared to imports. So, we have to find diverse markets," he said after inaugurating a financial hub in New Town, Rajarhat, which will be the second such facility after Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex.

I first visited Mumbai 28 years ago and fell in love with the place. I hoped I would one day find myself living and working here. When I took up my current Cathay Pacific Airways assignment in 2006, I suggested that it made more sense to move our regional headquarters from the Middle East to Mumbai. That happened in 2007 and I have been very happily here ever since. I have lived all over the world? Kenya, England, Germany, Oman, Cyprus, Rome, Seoul, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Bahrain to name a few cities.

BAHRAIN: STATE Bank of India (SBI) has said it is losing out on banking opportunities in the Middle East because of the absence of regulations on Islamic banking in India. The Middle East is seen as a big market for such products, given the wealth in the region. Islamic banking entails carrying out banking activities in accordance with the tenets of the Islamic law (Sharia). Speaking to a group of Indian journalists on a visit to Bahrain, the State Bank of India's regional head and CEO for Middle East, West Asia and North Africa, Farooque Shahab said: "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

N Delhi's power corridor, Mumbai has been the talking point all this week. The battle for Mumbai was no longer confined to the Thackerays and local Congressmen in India's financial capital, the reverbrations reached Delhi as well. Even before Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi did a stunt by boarding Mumbai's local trains to snub the Sena's protest call, the Thackerays were cornered by its sister outfits like RSS and BJP, announcing in no ambiguous terms that Mumbai belongs not just to Marathis, but to every Indian.

NEW DELHI: Crucial matters including terrorism measures, a free trade agreement and climate issues are expected to figure predominantly during the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama, who will be here on his first official visit from December 27. The new Japanese Prime Minister, who took over in mid-September, will discuss ways to expand, enhance and strengthen the India-Japan Strategic &...

MUMBAI: The jury is out on what the future holds for Dubai. Fund managers and high-street bankers see the fall of Dubai as a prelude to the emergence of Singapore as the undisputed financial centre of Asia. But for diamond merchants who left Antwerp to escape the harsh Belgian laws, traders handling third-country exports to the Arab world and Africa, and slush money dealers who found Dubai more friendly than the Swiss banks, the city state has no equal. For them, it could even make sense to re-enter the Dubai property market which drew Bollywood actors as well as the Russian mafia.